Tick-watch season arrives in Southwestern Ontario

Jenna Armitage, a public health inspector in Lambton County, looks at a tick in a plastic vial. Public health officials in Ontario are urging residents to watch for and protect themselves from blacklegged ticks, and the Lyme disease they can carry. Paul Morden / /The Observer

Southwestern Ontarians, their region one of the province’s hotspots for ticks, are being urged to take steps to avoid bites from the disease-carrying insects while they enjoy the warmer weather.

Public Health Ontario’s 2019 Lyme disease map highlight several potential risk areas in this region, including spots around Pinery Provincial Park on Lake Huron and Rondeau Provincial Park in Chatham-Kent, as well as large sections of Haldimand and Norfolk, and a southern section of Southwestern Public Health’s coverage area in Oxford and Elgin counties.

Further to the west, large chunks of Windsor and Essex County, including Point Pelee National Park, are also identified as risk areas.

“Lyme disease is preventable,” Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said in a news release. “That is why we are encouraging Ontarians to learn how to be safe and prevent tick bites.”

Lori Lucas, supervisor of health prevention for Lambton Public Health, said precautions include using bug spray with DEET and wearing long sleeves and pants while in wooded areas and fields where blacklegged ticks can be found.

Residents are also urged to check themselves, family members and pets before they go back inside, she said.

“As soon as the weather starts to warm up a little bit more, we start to see them emerge again,” Lucas said. “They tend to come out before the mosquitoes do.”

While Public Health Ontario’s map identifies “estimated” risk areas, that doesn’t mean other parts of the province are free from blacklegged ticks that may carry Lyme disease.

“No matter where you are, there is that potential,” Lucas said.

The province says cases of Lyme disease — a serious infection that comes from being bitten by an infected blacklegged tick — have been on the rise in Ontario.

A report for the Public Health Agency of Canada says 959 probable and confirmed cases of Lyme disease were reported in Ontario in 2017, three times higher than the five-year average of 313 from 2012 to 2015.

Much of that increase was in Eastern Ontario.

Lucas said public health officials focus their message on how residents can protect themselves.

“Assume ticks can carry illness,” she said. “Let’s remove them as soon as we can, because when detected early, Lyme disease is easily treated with antibiotics.”

Anyone who finds a tick should remove it carefully with fine-tipped tweezers because crushing or damaging the bug could cause Lyme disease bacteria to pass into the human bloodstream. The area should be washed with soap and water, and a health-care professional consulted if the individual has concerns or experiences symptoms.

Early symptoms of Lyme disease can include fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, fatigue and an expanding rash.

Ticks found on humans can be taken to a public health office to be identified, and sent away for testing if they’re found to be a blacklegged tick.

Last year, 30 blacklegged ticks — a slow-moving bug about the size of a sesame seed that can carry Lyme disease — were identified in Lambton County though its own tick-collecting efforts, and ticks brought to the office by the public, Lucas said.

“None of them tested positive for the bacteria,” she said.

There was one positive human case of Lyme disease last year in Lambton County.

“However, it was believed to be travel-related” and not traced to exposure in Lambton, Lucas said.

Ontario’s public health units have noticed an increased population of both blacklegged (deer) ticks and dog ticks; it is only the blacklegged (deer) ticks that can potentially carry Lyme disease.

Blacklegged ticks are much smaller than dog ticks.

According to Lyme Ontario, those various “home remedies” for tick removal have not been proven effective and can potentially do more harm than good. Under no circumstances should a flame, ointment, flammable liquid (gasoline, oil, lighter fluid, acetone, nail polish, etc.) or caustic material be used in removal attempts.

If you (or someone you know) has been bitten by a tick, once you have removed it carefully, you can bring it to your local public health unit for identification. If it is determined that it’s a blacklegged tick, the health unit will send it to be tested for Lyme disease.

Blacklegged ticks cannot jump or fly. Instead, they seek hosts by climbing on vegetation such as grasses or shrubs in the woods (especially along trails) as well as the fringe area between the woods and border. Ticks will wait for a host to rub against them and climb onto the host’s body, eventually attempting to attach and feed.

Tick bites are generally painless, so a visual check of the skin is necessary. A tick bite can happen anywhere, but it is particularly important to check for ticks if you have been walking or working in potential tick habitat or in areas of higher tick populations, as promptly removing ticks can help prevent infection.

In Ontario, blacklegged ticks are most commonly found in areas along the north shores of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

The greatest risk of getting Lyme disease is during the spring and summer months.

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